Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Swans, both white and black ones, exist in Singapore, mainly at Botanic Gardens.

So when a pair of white swans appeared at Pandan Reservoir one day, a woman excitedly took a selfie with them and sent them to her husband.

But her husband knew better, in this case.

Instead of expressing his excitement, he told his wife those swans are fake mechanical ones unleashed by PUB.

This funny encounter was related in a post in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group on Oct. 8.

The husband wrote, alongside a photo of the selfie his wife took:

My wife was so excited to see a pair of large swans swimming in Pandan Reservoir, that she quickly took a selfie with them and posted it to me. I told her do you see anyone around there holding on a controller. She say she can see a group of workmen looking at the direction of the swans. I told her I don't want to disappoint you but those are mechanical swans doing water testing by PUB lah. she goes "chey!" 😅

And the hubby's general knowledge of water and ornithology checks out.

SWAN project to monitor water quality

According to PUB, five fake swans were released in January 2018 into reservoirs to monitor water quality.

The project was cleverly named SWAN project (Smart Water Assessment Network).

The mechanical devices have been designed to look like real swans to blend in with their surroundings.

The swans have a system of propellers and water sampling equipment, and they use wireless technology to send real-time results to national water agency PUB.

They do the work in place of scientists having to out to the water by themselves.

Researchers say they can also control the fake swans by remote control.

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top photo via excited woman & PUB